We had a blast at my 5 year old's pirate birthday party.
We made invitations out of construction paper, in the shape of a treasure chest. Inside was a treasure map, where X was the location of the party. Decorations were simple--a foam cooler decorated like a treasure chest, a black covered table decorated with little toy ships & sea animals(which we gave as gifts to the few babies there) and curly green spinach noodles sprinkled over the table. The snacks were labeled with different names like 'octopus legs' for gummy worms. We created an island scenery, which served as the home base for the children to gather back to for all the events. As guests arrived (children and their parents), they received a bandana made out of clearance sale material, a dollar store sword, and a pirate tattoo(made on my PC). When everyone arrived, the children took the pirate oath, and were informed that Captain Connor's(the b-day boy) treasure had been stolen. They were each given a piece of colored paper with a different clue on each paper. The clue led their next clue...and so on. The fourth clue for each child told them that they would have to make a 'piece' offering to the evil Pirate Queen (my mom-in-law) in exchange for a piece of the treasure map. The piece offering consisted of a stone, a buttercup, a stick, etc... Once gathered, the Queen gave them a piece of the map. Then the children gathered onto the island to assemble the puzzle treasure map. But, uh-oh....Someone had stolen the 'X' off the map!!! An anonymous tip gave us a riddle to find out who the thief was--The birthday boy's mother's husband's brother's daughter's uncle (my husband). Once the children got the X from the thief, they each had to pop a balloon, which contained a clue as to where to put the X on the map. Each clue had one word and a number on it. In numerical order, the words spelled out the X's location--and the location of the treasure!!! (the kids were so excited!!) Then-- when they found the treasure box, it was filled with water balloons, which they had to get rid of, in order to get to their loot!! They were instructed to go the two facing ships (made from scrap cardboard boxes) where they bombed each other until the ships fell down. Then they received their loot. To top the party off, the children played pin the eyepatch on the pirate (made from a cookie sheet, with a printed out picture of a pirate temporarily glued to the back, and paper eye-patches with magnetic strips on them to stick to the pirate). The winner of that game got the first hit at the piņata!!! An hour later, it was pizza and cake. The kids had a blast, and I received a few invitations to plan other kids' parties!!! The whole thing went for under $60 and the kids had much more fun then the original idea of a skating party ($90)!!
